


Old Friends

by wrennette



Series: Trashpile: A Compendium of Unfinished Fics [5]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV), The Outlaw Josie Wales
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, M/M, archiving old words, attempts at writing in accent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 12:52:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11059368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrennette/pseuds/wrennette
Summary: An old friend of Ezra's from the war passes through town, with trouble in his trail.





	Old Friends

**Author's Note:**

> reformatted from a chapter in a multifandom fic to standalone. If you commented on the previous fic, thank you, I appreciate it even though the comments have been deleted.

They were outside of town, riding in after the long patrol. When Ezra drew up slightly on Rambler’s reins, Vin slowed as well. There was a rider at the watering hole they usually stopped at on the way back, an hour or so outside of town. 

He was trail dusted and weary looking, slouching in his saddle as his mount drank deep. A grey broad brimmed hat, brown bandana rolled and knotted up around his neck, brown hair curling over his collar. There was a rifle tucked into the scabbard on one side of the saddle and six shooters nestling at his hips. Not a man to startle.

“Two riders comin’ in,” Ezra called clearly, and the man stiffened and half turned, his hand going to his hip before he relaxed. 

“Peace and welcome,” the man rasped around the end of his burned down cheroot. They rode closer, the stranger watching them the whole way, and his eyes narrowed in his leathery face. “I know you,” the stranger growled, and they stilled their mounts. 

“Josey?” Ezra asked, real soft and almost tender, and the man’s face cracked into a smile.

“Well damn,” the stranger said around his cigarillo, and then he was dismounting gracefully and reaching up to pull Ezra from the saddle. The stranger embraced Ezra tightly, then pushed him away a bit to look searchingly into his face. “Damn,” the stranger said again, and a bright laugh bubbled up out of Ezra.

“Josey, this is my friend Vin,” Ezra said, half turning to introduce them. “Vin, this is Josey. We met during the war.”

“Boy was the best damn lil’ Cap’ I ever rode with,” Josey said with a proud gleam in his eye, despite that he was obviously at least ten years older than Ezra. 

“Four Corners is an hour or so on,” Ezra said, not withdrawing from Josey’s grasp in the least. “Vin and I are regulators there. I’d be glad to stand you a drink and a meal, catch up?” Josey smiled at the offer, hearing the barest hint of uncertainty. He glanced over at Vin, trying to figure how well these two knew each other, how many secrets were shared between them. Vin was near as difficult to read as Ezra though, in slightly different ways. 

“Reckon I could use a meal, an’ I surely know the company would be a pleasure. Could use a few supplies too, if’n this town of yours has a store that don’t charge too high,” Josey said after a moment. Ezra smiled widely at the acceptance. 

“Mrs Potter charges very decent rates,” Ezra assured, then cut his eyes back to Vin and decided _oh, what the hell_ , then leaned up on his toes and brushed his lips to the creased corner of Josey’s mouth. “Missed you so Josey,” he said tenderly, and Josey made a similar decision. He spat his cigarillo to one side and gathered Ezra for a deeper kiss, plunging his tongue into the once familiar cavern of Ezra’s mouth. Ezra moaned low and sweet, his hands fisting in the back of Josey’s rough jacket as he pressed himself as close as possible.

“Missed you too sweet boy,” Josey said with gruff affection. “Let’s get on, I’ll tell ya all about it,” Josey said with a craggy smile, and Ezra grinned back, smoothing out his jacket and going to his mount, looking back over his shoulder every so often with that broad smile still on his face. Vin chuckled softly and shook his head, then nodded at Josey. 

“Ain’t never seen him that happy pard, reckon I owe you a drink for makin’ my brother smile like that.” Josey smiled and nodded back, accepting that kinship claim, the unspoken agreement that Vin would not speak of the closer than friends relationship between the two men.

“Boy needs looked after,” Josey said by way of explanation, and Vin shrugged. He knew damn well Ezra could take care of himself, they all could, but some folks did prefer to be coddled a bit, and Ezra did seem the type. Vin glanced at Josey again. An interesting pair. He smiled slightly to himself. 

In the saloon, Chris looked up, then settled back from his wariness as Vin sauntered in, signalling for four beers from the keep. Chris let his curiosity light his eyes, and Vin’s eyes returned the answer with a glance cut towards the door. Someone had joined him and Ezra on their patrol, would join them for a drink as well. Heavy boots thumped against the porch, shadowed by the jingling of spurs. A long, unfamiliar stride, but with it was the soft, cat-like prowl of Ezra’s boots, near silent against the boards. 

A strange silhouette in the doorway, and the man stepped in. He had lit a cheroot, and the smoke wreathed his worn face. Slits of eyes squinted against the dimness, and the fellow stepped to the side quickly, knew this routine well. Plain, dusty clothes, a grey hat, and a pair of six guns on his hips. Ezra stepped in behind him, tilted his head up to the stranger and spoke in soft tones that didn’t carry. Ezra came over, that slinking quiet gait of his, and the stranger followed, boots quieter now but his spurs still ringing with each step.

“Mr. Larabee,” Ezra said, touching the brim of his hat. “This is Josey. Josey, Mr. Larabee, another of my compatriots.” The man given as Josey didn’t extend a hand, just nodded and reached up to touch his hat, that same affect as Ezra’s. Ezra sat, as was his right, and Josey settled in a sprawl at his side. It seemed nonchalant to the unpracticed eye, but Chris could easily read the wariness, and the protectiveness. This man would give his life for Ezra’s. Well alright then. 

There was something about Josey that niggled at Chris, and when he lifted his chin somewhat to tip down a mouthful of beer, Chris got a better look at his face. Chris swallowed thickly. He knew that face. Josey. Josey Wales. He swallowed again. Damn interesting man to claim as friend. And just damn like Ezra. Chris fought a snort of bemusement. Man did keep them on their toes. 

“Headed anywhere in particular Josey?” Chris asked after wetting his throat, and Josey cocked his head slightly, regarding him with an even, measuring look.

“Was in Arizone a while. Had a woman there, folks, a place. Didn’t work out so good. Too many ghosts followin’ in my train. Figure it’s best I keep movin’, maybe hire my gun out someplace.” It was an honest answer, given in a low, rasping voice, and Chris nodded, respecting that even if it chilled him a bit. Losing a woman and a place could downright break a man. He knew it all too well. Ezra shifted slightly, and Josey looked over at him, eyes softening. “Reckon I might stay here a pace, if’n the Cap says so.”

“You know you don’t need my say so for a damn thing Josey,” Ezra said with a smile and soft affection in his tone. Josey actually smiled at that, his hand moving below the level of the table. Chris would bet it settled on Ezra’s knee. From the look in Vin’s eyes, he had an idea of what was between them, and Chris would guess it was something more than having served together in that damn war.

“Well Cap, ye is the law now, ain’tcha,” Josey said, and Ezra chuckled softly. 

“Suppose I am at that. No trouble on my ‘count if ya’ll stay a while Josey. Would be quite pleased to have you about,” Ezra said, and the tone was perfectly normal for Ezra, but there was a softness about his face when he looked at Josey that Chris hadn’t seen before. It was different than the softness he had for children or ladies, different even than the special softness he had for Inez. Far more than friends or former comrades than, and perhaps something lasting that had been torn asunder.

“Well then,” Josey said, settling more deeply in his chair as if that settled everything, as if Ezra’s word made it so. But then, if Josey had served in a unit where Ezra was captain, Chris thought, perhaps in Josey’s world, Ezra’s word did make it so.

“Is Mrs. Wells still looking for a hand out at her spread?” Ezra asked Vin, and Vin nodded, a sly little smile on his face. Nettie would probably take to this fellow right nicely. “Mrs. Wells owns a small place a ways outside of town. Her and her niece run a few head of cattle, some horses and such. Vin helps there as he’s able, but with his responsibilities in town, well,” Ezra explained.

“I’d be obliged if ye’d mention my name,” Josey said. “Can’t promise I’ll be stayin’ on long, don’t want my trouble ta follow me ta no woman nor girl nor the Cap’s town. But I could use work for a season or so, get myself geared proper.”

“I could do that,” Vin said. “Reckon she still feels a bit soft on ya Ez, for helpin’ with the Jameses. Mighty likely she’d be willin’ ta let a friend a your’n stay there a spell.”

“Much obliged,” Josey said, tipping his hat, and Vin nodded in return. He knew too, just who the stranger was. But there were certain bounties he had never thought to hunt, and Josey Wales was one of them. Now, he was very glad of that fact.

* * *

Nettie sized up the tall lean fellow at Vin’s side. He didn’t look like the sort that no account fancy pants gambler would take money from, never mind sit down to meat with. But Vin had said that this fellow was a friend of Standish’s, looking for work after losing his own land and family. They had served together in the war, Vin had told her, and Nettie reckoned war made for all sorts of strange and unlikely bedfellows. He looked like he knew hard work though, and if he had run his own place, he ought to.

“Vin tells me ya know cattle,” Nettie said simply, and the fellow nodded.

“Yes ma’am,” Josey answered her politely. “Ran a few head down in Arizone. Reckon I best tell ye straight off, there may be trouble followin’ on after me, on account o’ the war an’ what happened after. Most of it were settled down in Arizone, but I can’t promise there ain’t no one after me.” Nettie nodded at that, still measuring. He had an inscrutable face, not unlike Vin, and in a way that eased her mind slightly. He might be a hard man, used to doing for himself, but he’d also do his best to see he was the only one that paid for his sins.

“Reckon I know a thing or two about trouble son, an’ you ain’t got none I ain’t seen afore,” Nettie declared, then nodded firmly. “Vin’ll bring you on out for Sunday dinner, bring your kit with ye. I’ll give ye room an’ board an’ five dollars the first month. We get on alright, it’ll be ten a month after. Know it’s low pay, but that’s about all I can afford.”

“Right kindly ma’am, much obliged,” the stranger said, and Nettie nodded again, then let Vin help her back up into the wagon. 

“Ye kin bring that fancy-man a your’n too, if you’ve a mind,” Nettie said, then clucked to her mules and snapped the reins to set them in motion. The jacks leaned in their harnesses, and the wagon creaked to life. For a moment Vin thought Wales would take offense at Nettie's nickname for Ezra. But Josey just gave a wry smile, and Vin chuckled softly.

“Reckon ‘e is a mite fancy,” Josey said, almost under his breath. “Lord know’s he’s about the prettiest damn thing I’ve ever seen in pants.” Vin let out another soft chuckle. Ezra wasn’t quite his type, but he would readily admit the gambler was a damn fine sight. 

“Even purtier in’a dress,” Vin murmured low enough that only Josey would hear, and the outlaw glanced over, one eyebrow raised in question. “Needed a scam to close down a whoremonger, save the girls. Managed to talk ‘m inta skirts, though he weren’t too happy ‘bout it.” Josey snorted softly. 

“Course ‘e weren’t,” Josey scoffed softly. “Man might have - uncommon affections, but he ain’t that sort.” Vin nodded, seeing that. Ezra might love a man, and lay with him, but that little gambler was in no way womanish. He was one of the fastest draws Vin had ever seen, save maybe Chris, and could brawl like a man twice his size if he had to.


End file.
